Domestic cat bears exotic kitten.Domestic cat bears exotic kitten kitten newborn or young cat or ferret. kitten mortality complex a general term applied to a syndrome involving death of young kittens, particularly in breeding establishments. At the Cincinnati Zoo, a domestic cat has given birth to an endangered Indian desert cat derived from an artificially fertilized fer·til·ize v. fer·til·ized, fer·til·iz·ing, fer·til·iz·es v.tr. 1. To cause the fertilization of (an ovum, for example). 2. embryo. The Feb. 7 birth, announced March 1, marks the first interspecies birth of a cat and the first birth of an exotic cat from a test-tube fertilized egg, says Cincinnati Zoo researcher Betsy L. Dresser, who co-developed the in vitro in vitro /in vi·tro/ (in ve´tro) [L.] within a glass; observable in a test tube; in an artificial environment. in vi·tro adj. In an artificial environment outside a living organism. technique. Scientists at the zoo, the only U.S. facility housing this exotic cat species, Felis sylvestris, had failed to breed the Indian desert cat naturally. Dresser says she and her co-workers are now "trying to develop the domestic cat as a universal surrogate for quite a number of small endangered exotic cats." Last week, the researchers began a repeat experiment when they transfered eight more embryos into a domestic cat. Dresser says she also plans to try another species, and then another genus, of exotic cat. "Every step gets us that much closer to [understanding] how the domestic model needs to be changed slightly for the next species," says cat specialist Laurie Marker-Kraus of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where the first successful in vitro fertilization in vitro fertilization (vē`trō, vĭ`trō), technique for conception of a human embryo outside the mother's body. Several ova, or eggs, are removed from the mother's body and placed in special laboratory culture dishes (Petri dishes); technique for domestic cats was developed in 1987. To function as a surrogate, the domestic cat requires hormonal treatment so that its utderus is synchronized syn·chro·nize v. syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing, syn·chro·niz·es v.intr. 1. To occur at the same time; be simultaneous. 2. To operate in unison. v.tr. 1. with the developmental state Developmental state is a term used by International political economy scholars to refer to the phenomenon of state-led macroeconomic planning in East Asia in the late twentieth century. This is more pronounced in Indian context. of the fertilized embryo. Dresser says she and her co-workers are now working with the embryos from exotic ctats to learn how to freeze them along with exotic cat sperm. "Once they're frozen, [we] can keep a species from going extinct," she explains. The successful pregnancy confirmed that the Indian desert cat is closely related to the domestic cat, F. catus, Dresser adds. |
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